Operation Sea Lion

by Peter Fleming

In the summer of 1940 the Germans prepared to launch Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of England. The British, barely recovered from Dunkirk, rallied their defenses. Both sides operated in great secrecy and, because the invasion never took place, the dramatic preparations for what would have been one of the watershed battles of history faded from memory. Not, however, before Peter Fleming rescued this fascinating story from military archives and the recollections of survivors who were involved.

Genres: History, Military History, World War II, Nonfiction, War, Military Fiction, Germany

333 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Adventurer and travel writer. A brother of James Bond author Ian Fleming, he married actress Celia Johnson in 1935 and worked on military deception operations in World War II. He was a grandson of the Scottish financier Robert Fleming, who founded the Scottish American Investment Trust and the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany which never happened......Operation Sea Lion. The author, brother of Ian Fleming, was involved with the government in planning for the expected invasion and provides an insiders look at the year 1940 when things were looking bleak for Great Britain. But Hitler made mistake after mistake when trying to bring England to her knees; the first being that he missed his chance immediately after Dunkirk when England was at her weakest. Hitler did not understand the British and certainly could not relate to Churchill and the determination of the English people. He thought he could talk them into withdrawing from the war or accept concessions from Germany to stop fighting. Churchill's words....." Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war"........kept morale up and even the Home Guard, often ridiculed, played an important part in the preparations. Hitler also didn't understand the dangerous waters of the English Channel and the difficulty he would face crossing, with the Home Fleet and the RAF in front of him and the weather against him.. He underestimated the RAF and that the destruction of the Group Sector Stations was his chance through attrition which might have led to Britain's defeat in the air. He postponed Operation Sea Lion several times and finally abandoned it when he turned his eyes toward Russia. And the rest is history. This is a must read for the WWII buff.

[Ian Beardsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an interesting historical footnote, Peter Fleming was Ian Fleming's (of James Bond fame) brother. He was also in the British Military during WWII and was tasked with potentially leading underground guerilla units should the Germans actually invade England.

He provides a detailed and quite well-researched perspective on the story of Hitler's frequently postponed and ultimately canceled invasion of Britain, code-named "Operation Sea Lion" by the Nazi forces, when they suddenly found themselves completely overrunning the low-countries and France in the spring of 1940. In fact, as Fleming points out, it seems that Hitler made two egregious mistakes that foiled his invasion plans:
- One was the startling success of his blitzkrieg into Western Europe. Hitler was indeed confident he would win, but the speed of his victory and the evacuation of the BEF from France brought him to an outcome he hadn't considered: the Brits going home but trying to continue on the war by other means (bombing Germany and fighting in North Africa). There was no Nazi plan until late May for the German forces to mount an invasion. But by the time they started to organize material and naval resources, time was already running short, and Goering's Luftwaffe was struggling to eradicate the RAF.
- Second was Hitler's miscalculation that Churchill and friends would quickly realize they had been bested, cut their losses and make a peace deal that ceded the continent to the Nazi's. That Britain would subject themselves to almost continuous bombardment and try to fight on alone in the sideshow of North Africa had not seriously entered the Fuhrer's mind.

The book covers the preparations and problems from both sides. In June 1940, several well-placed and lucky German divisions could have literally overrun south-east England, but time was thankfully on England's side.

Of course, we know how the story turns out in the end, but it is interesting to read and ponder what it would have looked like: the Luftwaffe hammering the airfields day after day until the last Spitfires and Hurricanes were wrecked, a fairly massive armada of naval warships and commercial barges plying the English channel bringing in the Wehrmacht over to the beaches between Brighton and Dover, Churchill and cabinet fleeing with the remnants of the Royal Navy to Canada....

This is an aspect of WWII that I've always overlooked because it didn't happen, but as a fairly serious amateur student of history, I'm glad to have filled in some of these details of an aspect of WWII that could have turned out horribly different.

[David Lowther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Fleming, brother of the late Sir Ian, has put together a solid account of the events of the summer of 1940 when Britain was under threat from invasion from Nazi Germany.
Whilst he had personal involvement in intelligence during the war, the Official Secrets Act will have prevented him from using this experience in writing this book which was published in 1957.
The modern day writer's account of these events would have had access to much material that has been de-classified. Invasion 1940 feels, therefore, a little incomplete but it is, nonetheless, a useful record of these events.

David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War. all published by Sacristy Press.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Dad fought in both theatres while Mom lived under Nazi occupation in Norway. Dad turns eighty-seven tomorrow, so I read this book blind, being generally interested in reading books about the world they grew up in, but knowing nothing about the author. I've likely read scores of books about WWII for similar personal reasons.

In any case, I know enough about the war to state that the book's approach is creditable. Fleming--brother of Ian Fleming--not only lived through the events on the homefront, but he did his homework as well. What merits the fourth star, however, is readability. Fleming writes beautiful English.

[A.J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book about the planned invasion of Britain in May of 1940, revealing the British plans for defense (some of which were quite hilarious) and the confusion and delays that hampered the military High Command (OKW) in Germany. It illustrated the reasons why Hitler failed and gave even further examples of Hitler’s great bane of indecisiveness, not to mention stubborn attachment to ideas even after proved futile. The last chapter explained the results of Hitler’s failure to neutralize Britain as a threat. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the war in North Africa, the invasion of Crete, and the defenses in the Balkans would have, in all probability, been eliminated by neutralizing Britain at the beginning of the war. An interesting point Fleming mentioned, was that Hitler did not even have to invade Britain. If Hitler had instead let Britain come to grips with their own impotence after the evacuation of Dunkirk, he could have focused his efforts on Russia, launching Operation Barbarossa sooner. That last point alone would have shaped the fortunes of the war on the Eastern Front, viewing how critical and precious time was in the fight against Winter. Stating that Moscow would have fallen, and the Soviet morale suffered a great decline possibly leading to German victory, is not an indefensible position.
All in all, the book was very detailed and focused substantial attention to the British defenses, so if that’s what you’re looking for, this book is for you.

[J.G. Cully · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read, taking the many aspects of the invasion that never was. Leaving the actual Battle of Britian, Peter Fleming instead concentrates on the politics and plans of the two sides. What the Germany forces really thought of the plan, and how britian adapted. The unusual counter invasion plans made and what eventually became of the grand enterprise itself.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

An oldie but a goodie. Written in 1957 but still an excellent short book on the proposed German invasion of Britain in 1940. Explains why the Germans wanted to invade and why they eventually gave up on the idea and what may have happened if they had attempted to invade.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear concise history of the almost invasion of England in 1940.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. Fleming has a rather dated style of writing perhaps because the book was first published in 1957. Nevertheless it is good account of events in England in the summer of 1940.

[Christopher Lutz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Operation Sea Lion was first published in 1957 under the title Invasion 1940, and tells the story of German plans to invade the British Isles in 1940. A lot of text is spent of detailing the events that led to this situation in order to put things in context, as well as a lot of thoughts about the attitude of the British people at the time concerning the impending invasion. There are a number of illustrations reproduced from Punch at the time which tells you that many people didn't take it seriously, whilst a small selection of photos from the time are marred by some terrible caption errors. The text itself is well written and interesting, and unlike other books on this subject it does not dwell on pointless what-if forecasts about how the invasion might have gone, and instead concentrates on what was achieved towards the invasion objective.

[Brad Lucht · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a real slog, a recipe for insomnia if ever there was one.

Operation Sea Lion discusses the planned invasion of England by Germany shortly after Dunkirk.

Both German invasion plans and British resistance plans are discussed in some detail, but presented in a manner in which I just didn't care.

While the subject is of interest, this book is *not* recommended.
-------
P.S.: Peter Fleming is the older brother of Ian Flemming, author of the James Bond series. He wrote several travel books before the war, and thus was an author long before his younger brother.

[Mark Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focusses on the projected invasion of the UK rather than just the Battle of Britain. It postulates that the invasion was always unlikely to succeed once a very narrow window (just after the Dunkirk) had passed. The authors view on the impact of this campaign on the rest of the war is very interesting. If Hitler had left the UK alone would the Gov settle for the status quo? All this proves the pivotal impact of the battle.

[Nataly Tiare · Rating 3 out of 5]

(27/04/13)

Libro bastante ameno acerca de la fallida "Operación León Marino", a través de la cual Hitler pretendía invadir Gran Bretaña. Para quien disfrute con la historia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial aporta gran cantidad de datos y anécdotas. Sin embargo, a veces el autor peca de chauvinista y termina ridiculizando al bando alemán, lo que le resta seriedad al libro.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting study of the preparations for the invasion that never was.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty entertaining account of Britain battling the Germans in 1940. It's interesting to see how he skirts around all the secret stuff.